Rx For The Weary Soul: Have Yourself A “Lily Day”

 

                                      

                         

Thanks to Anne Nay­lor for this won­der­ful post on How To Cel­e­brate A Lily Day, reprinted here with her per­mis­sion.  You’ll find Anne’s writ­ing and other offer­ings at www.annenaylor.com.  

Con­sider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, nei­ther do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Where­fore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to mor­row is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of lit­tle faith? There­fore take no thought, say­ing, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Where­withal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gen­tiles seek:) for your heav­enly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.   Matthew Chap­ter 6

 The quote above speaks to me of hav­ing faith that some­thing greater than I is in charge and run­ning this show on earth. There­fore, instead of get­ting worked up and stressed out, I can let go and relax. I do not have to be in con­trol and direct­ing every­thing — minu­tiae management.

What is a Lily Day and how do we cel­e­brate it? First of all prac­ti­cally speak­ing, before I declare a Lily Day I do take care of the essen­tials that would oth­er­wise dis­tract me — for exam­ple, a bill to be paid, a phone call that has to be made, a meet­ing to be agreed. A Lily Day is a day of trust, space and peace, know­ing that my basic needs are being taken care of — food, shel­ter, warmth — and impor­tantly, my need to give: of my time, tal­ents, love and joy.

On a Lily Day, there is noth­ing I should or feel I have to do, unless I really want to. It is a bit like hav­ing a hol­i­day at home with­out the dis­com­forts of travel and facil­i­ties that do not meet my expec­ta­tions. And it is just as refresh­ing, poten­tially more enrich­ing and it does not cost any­thing. It is a Day to be avail­able to and nur­ture my inner spirit.

Each time I have declared a Lily Day, the expe­ri­ence has been so very reward­ing. I let the day take care of itself. I allow myself to be moved from within. It might be to go for a walk. It could be to clear a cup­board I have been mean­ing to do for ages. I could sit in a com­fort­able chair and just do noth­ing, until some­thing occurs and moves me to take action. I can even be more pro­duc­tive than on a “nor­mal” planned day.

If there fil­ing to do, but I really don’t feel like doing it, I don’t do it. Let­ters to write, peo­ple to call, shop­ping to do — for­get it. If it is really impor­tant, I will be moved to com­plete it. I give my “mol­e­cules” a chance to breathe as I get off my case.

If I am depen­dent upon the world around me for my sense of pur­pose, mean­ing and ful­fill­ment, I look out­side of myself for val­i­da­tion. I seek atten­tion and approval, com­pare myself to oth­ers and their suc­cesses. On the other hand, a Lily Day offers me the oppor­tu­nity to view who I am, and what I do, in a whole new light. How? I am relat­ing to myself from the inside out. My inner wis­dom is work­ing for me and guid­ing me. I am enrich­ing myself.

Stresses may come not from what hap­pens but how we respond to the events around us. But then isn’t pres­sure often self-imposed by our expec­ta­tions and the dri­vers of shoulds, oughts and the com­pul­sions that we assume? How is it some peo­ple in the same cir­cum­stances remain relaxed and calm while oth­ers get flus­tered? A Lily Day is not opt­ing out. It is opt­ing in; a deli­cious state of sur­ren­der to that which is higher and greater than me.

The cure for exhaus­tion and burn-out is not rest but rather to con­nect with your heart and let it guide you into what gives you power. When you con­nect with your power there is com­plete relax­ation even in the midst of intense action. –Davide de Angelis

A Lily Day — no expec­ta­tions, no dis­ap­point­ments. No attach­ments — free­dom to be you and hon­our your heart­felt instincts to ful­fil what is right in front of you. No fuss. No bother. Know the full­ness of your own spirit as it comes into align­ment with what is true for you.

Hap­pi­ness can­not be trav­elled to, owned, earned, worn or con­sumed. Hap­pi­ness is the spir­i­tual expe­ri­ence of liv­ing every minute with love, grace, and grat­i­tude. –Denis Waitley

Let­ting go is lib­er­at­ing. The bless­ing of any release is that it cre­ates the space for some­thing new. The void is actu­ally not empty. I have found that the void is actu­ally full of the dynamic energy of who I am really am, my spir­i­tual essence. When I have stopped dri­ving myself and try­ing to fill my space with things I think will make me feel more “com­fort­able” — eat­ing, watch­ing tv, mind­lessly trawl­ing the inter­net– I am filled with vital­ity and peace.

These final quotes hint at the sweet joy avail­able to us on a Lily Day.

As a divine being, a Soul, you bring spir­i­tual light and love into this world. You cre­ate a space for grace to be in your life. –John-Roger with Paul Kaye (From: What’s It Like Being You?, p. 109)

If you are lov­ing God, and I mean really lov­ing God by being cen­tered and filled with that rather than being pre­oc­cu­pied with worldly con­cerns, then Grace abounds with you.

And what­ever you do becomes a bless­ing. It just turns out right. 
People actu­ally rejoice that you are around.

 

–John-Roger with Paul Kaye
(From: The Rest of Your Life, p. 195)

 

 

 

 

Tagged as: Anne Naylor, comfortable chair, energy, food, Human Interest, lilies, Lilies of the Field, Lily Day, Matthew Chapter, psychology of the soul, Rx For The Soul, Solomon, Soul, weary soul